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Whitman County, WA GenWeb Project |
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Comprising a total land mass of 2,151 square miles, Whitman County ranks 10th in size among Washington counties. The county is situated in southeast Washington along the Washington-Idaho border. On the Washington side, it is bordered to the north by Spokane County, to the west by Adams County (and a small part of Franklin County at its southwest corner), and to the south by the southeast counties of Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin.
Whitman County is situated in the heart of Palouse Country. Its topography is generally that of flat land and rolling hills (the Palouse Hills). The rich, dark, porous, moisture-retentive soil is composed of loess and volcanic ash overlaying basalt. Various forms of bunchgrass constitute the native vegetation, though most of the dryland has since been converted into a productive wheat farming region.
Elevations in the region range from 1,100 to 3,400 feet above sea level. At the higher elevations are Tekoa Mountain and a number of prominent rock formations such as Bald Butte, Steptoe Butte, and Kamiak Butte.
The Snake River is responsible for the county's winding southern border with Columbia, Asotin, and Garfield counties. Along this river-forged border lies the Snake River Canyon - a canyon that cuts a 2,000-foot deep swath through the Palouse Hills. The county's single largest body of water is Rock Lake, located in the northwest county. Among the county's major tributaries are the Palouse River, Rock Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Pleasant Valley Creek, and Union Flat Creek. There are also a host of lesser tributaries.
Some towns (1998): Albion, Almota, Colfax, Colton, Dusty, Elberton, Endicott, Ewartsville, Farmington, Garfield, Hay, Hooper, Johnson, LaCrosse, Lamont, Malden, Oakesdale, Palouse, Pine City, Pullman, Rosalia, St. John, Steptoe, Tekoa, Thornton, Uniontown, Winona
John Blair has kindly volunteered to set up an e-mail discussion list for Whitman County. This list will serve as an additional forum for posting your queries or sharing information about resources, history, etc. related to Whitman County.
You can subscribe to the List mode (which means that you will receive every posting made to WAWHITMA as a separate e-mail) or Digest mode (where you will receive several postings within the same email).
To subscribe to the List mode, send a message to:
To subscribe to the Digest mode, send a message to:
I hope to see all of you on the list, and thanks again to John Blair for serving as listowner!
Webmaster:
Tim "PITA" Harper
This page last updated Sunday, 23-Mar-2008 19:19:58 CDT
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